after seeing various versions of this relish, at the very least 3 times within a short span, i began devising a dish using ingredients along these lines. ‘last night’s dinner‘ did a version over striped bass (btw - get a load of the first dish in this post of hers - a pasta to die for), ‘dolce & nutella‘ put her patricia wells inspired version over pasta, and laura from ‘ombi‘ paired hers with grilled haloumi cheese. at first i envisioned a grilled shoulder of lamb but eventually settled on a shrimp and farro combo.
i bought some pitted large green olives from the local olive bar of ‘the fresh market’, a bunch of mint, some parsley, organic lemons for their rind, used my preserved meyer lemons, garlic, salt and pepper - all diced and mixed with my favorite spanish olive oil, l’estornell.
upon further investigation judy rogers of the famed ‘zuni cafe‘ does a version with chopped blanched almonds over pork or chicken. so i’m thinking this combination is pretty versatile and a good one to keep filed away for future use with well, everything.
but mostly it’s the way i like to cook. it’s rustic and easy. and it’s all about the ingredients. oh and don’t be tempted to spritz with the lemon itself. just use the rind. mine was a tad too lemony. i still liked it - but next time i’ll show restraint. it was just kind of hard not to use the naked lemons as i knew they’d be relegated into the egg cups on my fridge door only to get all hard and dried up and then tossed in a couple weeks time. i need to squeeze them and then freeze the juice. the old squeeze and freeze… again, next time.
it’s rainy and unseasonably warm in nashville right now.
somehow this dish fit the mood.
22 responses so far ↓
1 Robert // Feb 4, 2008 at 8:21 pm
All of dat belongs ina Mufalleta bread, now, at my house……..
2 Dan // Feb 4, 2008 at 8:46 pm
You have come as close to smell-a-vision through food-photograpy as I can stand. I’m so stuffed up I couldn’t smell gasoline if it was poured on me right now, and I can figure out what that shrimp and farro and relish smell like right now. TYTYTY.
3 Donald // Feb 4, 2008 at 9:54 pm
Now I have to show restraint with the fork in order to keep this a functioning monitor! But that is one beeeeeautiful looking dish.
Shame though, my over indulgence with shellfish put attempting this dish on hold until my swollen, painful, “king’s disease” subsides. Oh, but it will be made. Too, easy, too tasty, not to make. Thanks for sharing it.
4 democommie // Feb 5, 2008 at 5:32 am
Claudia:
That looks delicious. I’ve got a cookbook (”The Italian Cafe”?, I think) that has a recipe for an ancient Roman salad of artichokes and boiled lemons. I’ll have to see if I can find that recipe. I’ve never worked with preserved lemons although I’ve seen them used in a couple of shows. There was a travel/food show on cable a while back that had the host traveling to different places and “spending the day” with someone in their childhood home, cooking the dishes they grew up with. One of those shows was about Morocco, made me want to go there.
5 casey // Feb 5, 2008 at 10:54 am
claudia; I’m pretty sure that artichoke and boiled lemons recipe is in the first River Cafe cookbook–in the US the title is The Rogers Gray Italian Cookbook–i think the UK title is different. great cookbook–
and great looking shrimp dish. I’m so pleased with the way my preserved meyers turned out–this looks like a great way to use some
6 cookiecrumb // Feb 5, 2008 at 11:33 am
Hey, wow!
But no orange zest?
7 melissa // Feb 5, 2008 at 2:00 pm
claudia, that looks like it would taste so perfect right about now. verrrry nice.
8 Lesley // Feb 5, 2008 at 3:54 pm
Agreed–all that (minus the shrimp) would really be tasty in a muffuletta roll. Ooh, with some provolone, too.
9 Jennifer Hess // Feb 5, 2008 at 7:22 pm
Perfect! Just gorgeous and I’d like some of that now, please.
10 democommie // Feb 5, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Casey:
I think you’re right. All of my cookbooks are packed away (hopefully staying in nice shape) and I just remembered it had something to do with Italy. Thanks!
11 Meg // Feb 5, 2008 at 10:00 pm
Unseasonably warm sounds pretty nice right now (it feels like gray and raw will never end here), and that dish looks great. Did the farro soak up the lemon-olive combo the way it looks like it would? I have a cold that’s making food sound sort of blah, but that? That looks good.
12 TaratheFoodie // Feb 6, 2008 at 7:35 am
Those shrimp look so good - I love shrimp. I’ve never had farro before, but this dish as a whole looks very healthy and tasty.
13 ElZorro // Feb 6, 2008 at 1:33 pm
Claudia:
I wanted to be the first to say that you look d-lish on your scene photo. Howev’r, just like Dionysus was always portray’d with the fruits of the vine, the photog could have at least placed ripe figs around you.
14 Mary Coleman // Feb 6, 2008 at 6:44 pm
Holding a copy of Heat!! Just loved it. Couldn’t happen to a nicer person!!
15 Justin S. // Feb 7, 2008 at 7:18 am
Oh Claudia I’m on a L’estornell kick as well. And remember, this wouldn’t be Nashville without a mid-winter warm spell to usher in an ungodly string of tornadoes, but this too shall pass. As an aside, just wanted to give you a sincere thanks for starting this site. I was beginning to wonder if my beloved Nashville was home to more of the food obsessed than just me. You gave this little ole’ college boy some hope! Many thanks for that.
16 Diana // Feb 7, 2008 at 12:09 pm
I love this — Your blog helps me think differently about my cooking — variations on a theme, rather than trying to invent something new every day.
I saw you in the Scene — congratulations! D’ya read any other food lit? I just got done with a book you’d love: Secret Ingredients, a collection of articles from the New Yorker related to food.
17 claudia // Feb 7, 2008 at 12:30 pm
hey there !!!
i just wrote a detailed comment to each and every one of you and then hit a link to one of your sites - i will NOT mention any names - and lost EVERYTHING. and now i am off to buy ingredients for a ribollita.
stay tuned…
18 Rachel // Feb 7, 2008 at 8:33 pm
Claudia, I was glad to finally meet you tonight! Oh, and this dish clearly puts my dinner to shame.
19 john hutcheson // Feb 8, 2008 at 5:52 am
I’ve seen a lot of celeb-types roaming grocery aisles and at eateries, but now I’ve actually met one of the key components of the ‘Lust’ list! What’s left for me…little, I’d say. Seriously, loved meeting you and chatting.
I lust after pretty much everyone of your food pictures and descriptions. Nice to meet the the provocateur. Hope to see you again..maybe at City House!
20 FireDog // Feb 8, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Hi Claudia. This looks scrumdillishious! Beautiful with it’s many colors and textures and I know to the palate it’s just as colorful.
Peace.
21 Jeff // Feb 9, 2008 at 5:56 pm
C –
Sorry I’ve been absent, but after seeing your spicy Lust List photo (they matched the book’s title to you is what I’m thinking) I had to check in. I’ll get back to cooking soon — surviving on Lazarolli’s pasta, thanks to you. Keep up the great work.
J
22 Maggie // Feb 11, 2008 at 8:35 pm
I am buying some preserved Meyer lemons right now. Right now I say!
Thanks, Claudia. Looks delish.
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